Like an air of the cold war. The tone has increased between the United States and Russia in recent days, or more precisely between Donald Trump and former Russian president Dmitri Medvedev. The vice president of the Russian Security Council, who has distinguished himself since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine for his provocative exits, does not digest the ultimatum released by the US president in Moscow intimidating to end the war with kyiv.
One of his statements particularly caused the anger of Donald Trump that decided this Friday “to reposition two nuclear submarines.” The US president explained to journalists that he did not appreciate the nuclear threat soft by the former Russian leader: the latter alluded on Thursday in Telegram to the “famous dead hand”, resurrecting memories of the cold war.
An automatic nuclear response
The “dead hand”, or “perimeter”, is the name given to an automated nuclear system established by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Ultra-Secret, it is not clear if this device is still active. Doubts also remain in terms of exact operation.
This system would allow Russia to automatically launch a nuclear missile save if its territory were the object of a nuclear attack, even if the command chain was completely destroyed. A network of seismic sensors, atmospheric pressure or radioactivity would detect nuclear shots and reprisals.
The basis for the specific strategic research, however, that the “dead hand” would be rather “semi -automatic.”
After a “preliminary command” was generated, followed by the “determination of the reality of a nuclear attack on the Soviet territory” and the “verification of the non -functionality of the communication network with the command authority”, the response response would be transferred “to a group of officers dedicated to a safe place.”
This operation is also advanced by the American journalist David E. Hoffman, author of the investigation The Dead Hand: The unlocked story of the Cold War arms race and its dangerous legacy (can be translated into French by The dead hand: the unprecedented story of the arms race during the Cold War and its dangerous inheritance).
If, at first, the Soviets invented “an automatic retaliation system capable of launching all their nuclear missiles if they were destroyed,” they redesigned the “after design”, explains the journalist rewarded for the price of Pulitzer for this book in 2010 in its place.
“They built a semi -automatic system that would entrust the destiny of the land to three surviving service officers, buried underground in a concrete bunker in the form of a globe”, abounds to specify that this “apocalyptic machine” “was really built and still exists.”
“Convince the enemy that one can ride even dead”
The Russians have decided to develop this nuclear device for fear of an American attack. Particularly after the announcement of the president of the time, Ronald Reagan, of the launch of an antimile defense project.
“According to the logic of the Cold War, if we believe that the opponent is about to launch an attack, you must choose between two options: launch first or convince the enemy that it can even be left dead,” said American Wired magazine in 2009.
If the “dead hand” integrated the doctrine of Russian nuclear deterrence during the Cold War, Dmitri Medvedev updates it, and in fact a means of pressure again.
Source: BFM TV
